


Hiding in Plain Sight

by nineofhearts



Series: Hiding in Plain Sight (plus alternate scenes) [1]
Category: Glee
Genre: M/M, famous!blaine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-03
Updated: 2020-10-03
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:14:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26787286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nineofhearts/pseuds/nineofhearts
Summary: Blaine is famous and decides to take a break from it all by putting on a disguise and going “backpacking” through Europe with his best friend Sam. What happens when they run into fellow Americans, Kurt and Mercedes, at one of the hostels?Loosely based on the time Niall Horan apparently went backpacking in disguise in Asia
Relationships: Blaine Anderson/Kurt Hummel
Series: Hiding in Plain Sight (plus alternate scenes) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1960030
Comments: 25
Kudos: 82





	1. The Trip

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! It's me, back from the void. I was going to apologize for not posting in years, but luckily I looked back and saw that my last Klaine fic was in APRIL. That wasn't even in the Before Times. I'm rusty but apparently I can't put that on not having posted Klaine fic in years. So anyways here's a fic.

“Sam!” Blaine answered the phone cheerfully. It had been far too long since he’d gotten to talk to his best friend. Sure there had been text messages, but between Sam’s school life and Blaine’s tour life, calls or Star Wars Battlefront sessions had been scarce lately. “How are you?”

“Your best friend is EMPLOYED!!” Sam shouted into the phone.

“You got it?!”

“I sure did. Yours truly will be working as a teaching assistant at Benjamin Harris elementary. Want to know the best news?”

“Of course!” The bus came to stop and Blaine looked outside. He was almost out of time. In a minute they would be pulling into the stadium where he would need to get out and start prepping for his night: Meet and greets, sound check, performance, more meet and greets, then back on the bus and off to the next show.

“I have almost the whole summer off! They don’t want me until two weeks before Labor Day.”

“You have the whole summer free?” Blaine asked in astonishment.

“The whole summer.”

“We have to do something,” Blaine declared. “My tour wraps in three weeks and after that I have nothing planned!”

“Nothing?” Sam asked in disbelief. “Don’t you have to write or something?”

“I can write anywhere. Besides, my current contract is up and I'm negotiating for some more time off. I've been actively touring, writing an album, or acting since I was 16," Blaine sighed. The last 7 years had been a dream come true, but that didn't mean he could keep up the breakneck pace and still be happy with his life. "I need a break."

“This would be crazy, but- what if we went backpacking through Europe like we used to say we would after college?” Sam suggested eagerly.

“Could we do that?” Blaine asked. “Not to be _That Guy_ , but I kind of have trouble going anywhere without someone stopping me for photos.”

“It’ll be fine! We stop gelling your hair and give you a different name and don’t tell anyone what you’re doing. It’ll be our own undercover mission. Who would believe that Multi-Platinum Pop Star Blaine Anderson was staying in hostels?”

“My manager is going to hate it, but I am sold," Blaine beamed.

* * *

**Four Weeks Later: Paris**

“What’s your backstory?” Sam asked as they sat in their hotel room, enjoying one last night of luxury before beginning their 2 month long adventure.

“What do you mean?” Blaine asked, grabbing some fries off Sam’s plate. One last night of luxury meant room service, cocktails, and Star Wars in Blaine’s suite at Le Roch Hotel & Spa in Paris France.

“Well, when we meet people during our trip, they’ll want to know who you are, what you’re up to,” Sam shrugged. “We can tell them the truth and be mobbed, or we can give you a fake identity. It’ll be like Nightbird and Blonde Chameleon!”

“And _this_ is why I have to approve all of your Instagram posts that mention me,” Blaine teased.

“Hey!” Sam laughed. “I’m trying to be realistic here. If you introduce yourself as a musician named Blaine, this trip is going to be public knowledge before we even make it to night one."

“Hmm,” Blaine pondered. “What if I’m a poet fr-”

“No.” Sam cut him off firmly.

“No?”

“What century do you think we’re in? Just because you view songwriting as poetry doesn’t mean anyone these days is a poet.” He nudged Blaine. “How am I supposed to pick up women if I’m traveling with a gay guy who’s a poet?”

“Fine,” Blaine laughed. “Political science major hoping to join a campaign after our trip?”

“They call themselves ‘poli-sci’ majors,” Sam corrected with all the wisdom that came from earning a college degree. Sam looked him up and down. “I think you can go by Devon.”

“It’s not too obvious or proper?”

“Nah,” Sam shoved a couple of fries into his mouth. “Who are we going to run into that knows your middle name? Besides, if someone gets suspicious we’ll just rename you at our next stop.”

“Deal,” Blaine grinned. He was a bit nervous about their adventure, but incredibly grateful that he would be getting to do this with Sam. He and Sam had been talking about this trip since they were 11 and Cooper had taken a gap year between high school and college to tour Europe. Thinking they would be unable to take this trip as they had once imagined it had been one of the few things that he regretted about his fame. 

The fact that they had (hopefully) found a way to do it, was a dream come true.

* * *

**The Trip Begins**

The first couple days of anonymity were mind boggling. Everywhere they went, Blaine found himself checking for exits in case someone realized who he was, but no one did. At the same time, Blaine had genuinely forgotten what it was like to actually need to introduce yourself to someone. The first time it had happened Sam had needed to jump in for him - Blaine had totally missed the cue to offer up his name.

* * *

Day 6 of the trip he and Sam got up early to visit the Eiffel Tour. Blaine had gone a few years back, but Sam had never been, making it a Must Do.

"Elevator or stairs?" Sam asked as they stood in the short line, trying to peer around a few tourists to see the ticket sign.

Blaine paused. He hadn't realized there were options. When he'd gone, the whole place had been closed for himself, a French model, and a NFL player to go up. They had all just been led straight to the elevator.

"Earth to Blaine," Sam sang. "Which one?"

"I'm _Devon_ ," Blaine hissed. Sam's eyes widened at his slip up. 

"The Blonde Chameleon is not a great spy." Blaine laughed. He paused, considering their options. "Let's take the stairs. No line, and I took the elevator last time."

At the top, there were people everywhere. A girl shrieked next to him, and Blaine felt his hand automatically tighten around a railing, thinking for sure that someone had recognized him. After a tense couple of seconds he looked around. No one was paying any attention to him. The girl was just having fun taking pictures with some friends.

Blaine forced himself to relax. “Hey Sam?” he nudged Sam’s shoulder. “Let’s take some pictures together.” Letting go of the assumption that a crowd meant danger and recognition was going to be a challenge.

* * *

**Week Three: Italy**

“Hey,” Sam poked Blaine in the side in a needless attempt to get his attention.

“Did you find a tour, or is this another Star Wars fanfic,” Blaine asked, exasperation seeping into his voice.

Sam glanced around at the people sitting around the lounge area. “Shh,” he hissed. “No one will hook up with me if they hear about the- the you-know-what.”

“Still doesn’t answer my question…” Blaine raised both eyebrows.

“It’s a guided tour. Of Pompei and Mt. Vesuvius,” Sam grinned, holding his phone out so Blaine could see. “A mini bus will pick us and some strangers up a few blocks from here, and they basically plan the whole day for you.”

Blaine took the phone from Sam for a closer look. He scrolled through. “It looks perfect. Lunch is included, spots on the Thursday trip… let’s do it.”

* * *

Thursday morning, they jogged towards the van, Blaine frantically checking his watch as he tried to keep his latte from tipping over. “We’ve got one more minute to get there!” he called over to Sam.

Sam grunted in response.

Running flat out, they barely made it on time. They boarded the bus, breathing heavily, grabbing two seats in the back. And then the bus sat in the parking lot for 15 more minutes while the driver sorted something out with the office. 

Pompei was amazing, and the tour of Mt Vesuvius, while a bit nerve wracking, was worth the drive.

On the bus back to the hostel, Blaine napped. After all of the tours he had done, sleeping on a bus was practically an automatic response.

“Hey,” Blaine woke to Sam nudging him. “Blaine- we’re almost there.”

Blaine yawned as he sat up readjusting to his surroundings. “Don’t call me that.” He looked around and noticed the teenage girl across the aisle staring hard at his face, brow furrowed. He sat up straighter, elbowing Sam and shooting a glance at the girl next to him.

“Are you-” she tapped him on the shoulder. “Sorry, but are you _Blaine Anderson_? Is that why you look familiar?”

Blaine froze as his body went cold. _No_ . This could not be happening to him. Not here. Not on a _bus_.

Luckily Sam spoke up. “I keep telling you you look like him!” Sam declared. Blaine groaned, but played along. 

“He likes to tease me because he thinks there’s a resemblance,” Blaine rolled his eyes. “My name is actually Devon.”

Blaine tried to keep his face neutral as they watched the girl for a reaction. She looked very skeptical. 

Sam chimed in, “See, it’s not just me who thinks you look like him." He sighed, a little wistful. “We could be staying in fancy hotels and getting private tours if you were him.” Blaine glanced over at the girl, who seemed to be starting to believe their story. Sam leaned towards her, his boldness seeming to grow. “Do you think we could pull it off? Maybe see what perks we could get if he pretended to be Blaine Anderson?”

She laughed, seeming to have decided that she was mistaken. “If you can lose the glasses, gel your hair, and get a fake ID, you might be able to.”

Before Blaine could respond, the bus ground to a halt. “Ladies and gentlemen, this is your stop. Thank you for joining us today!” 

Blaine could not have gotten off that bus any faster.

* * *

**Final Stop: Dublin**

Blaine left the pub he and Sam had been in, heading back to the hostel alone. Sam had left an hour prior with a red headed woman who had wanted an evening of fun. He walked down the sidewalk towards their hostel, live music pouring out of many of the bars he passed. He could live here for a while. Not enough places in the US had live music to eat and drink to. Too much of it was built for drowning out all conversations.

He walked through the front door of the building and headed up the stairs. When they had arrived in Dublin, O’Connor’s Hostel had been the first place they found that could offer them a room together. An 8 person, mixed gender dorm. 

When Blaine walked in he had had the vaguest sense that this might be a place where he would get murdered. Not because he was Blaine Anderson, but because the place was _just_ grimy enough, th lights were _just_ dim enough and the security was _just_ lax enough that murder must happen there. It had improved in the light of day, but not by much. They were only still there because the location was so good. Plus, it had onsite breakfast which Blaine couldn't pretend wasn't a selling point.

Reaching the third floor, Blaine heard voices through the door as he tried to unlock it.

“Mercedes, when you said ‘let’s stay in hostels’ I didn’t think you meant ‘let’s choose the site of our murder.’” A man - American given the lack of an accent as far as Blaine was concerned said.

Blaine opened the door. 

“You won’t be- hi!” a large black woman Blaine presumed to be Mercedes stopped mid-sentence to greet him. 

“Hi,” Blaine gave a little wave. “When I saw this place I also told my friend that we were probably going to be murdered. Turns out it was my fault for not booking anything before we got here. It’s not too bad though. There’s a little pastry shop next door, the bathroom is in good shape, and we’re right near the cutest little pub.” He reached a hand out to them in greeting. “I’m Devon by the way.”

“Mercedes.”

“Kurt.”

Blaine blinked, taking in the man Mercedes had been talking to. He was taller than Blaine, with legs that went for miles in his skinny jeans, and a surprisingly confident stance for someone who thought he might get murdered here.

“Is this your first night in Dublin?” Blaine asked.

“It is,” Mercedes said excitedly. “We just landed a few hours ago.”

“How was the trip?”

“It wouldn’t have been so bad,” Blaine’s eyes snapped over to Kurt. He was standing next to Mercedes with a clear look of dismay about their surroundings. “Except we got delayed _six hours_ in Columbus.”

“Columbus?” Blaine asked. "Do you guys live around there? Sam and I are from Ohio!”

“Us too!” Mercedes looked thrilled.

“Really? Small world.” Blaine walked over to his bed. “Sam will be delighted.” He set his bag down. “What brings a fine couple like yourselves here?” He knew he was fishing but he didn’t care.

Blaine had expected Mercedes to answer. Instead, Kurt’s head quickly turned. “We’re not a couple,” he interjected hurriedly.

“Oh! Sorry,” Blaine apologized. 1 point in favor of Kurt not being straight. “I shouldn't've assumed. I know the routine. People always think Sam and I are dating.”

“And I always tell them-” Blaine’s head swung so fast towards the door that he thought he heard something snap. Sam entered the room. Apparently he was done with the red head already. “That he _wishes_ we were dating.”

Blaine scrubbed a hand over his face as Mercedes giggled. “Time for bed drunky.”

“And he usually says, ‘It’s not my fault you’re hot.’”

“Sam!” Blaine yelped, moving Sam bodily towards his bunk. “I’m sure these very fine people can see that you’re hot and don’t need you embarrassing me over it.”

“If I were gay, I would do you,” Sam said audibly into his pillow.

Blaine flushed. “No more talking now, just go to sleep.” As Sam closed his eyes, Blaine chanced a look at Kurt and Mercedes. They were both clearly struggling to contain their laughter.

“Well," Mercedes said, turning to look at Kurt. "I don’t think they’re going to murder us."

Blaine snorted. “Where are you guys going tomorrow? We’ve been here a couple of days now so if you need tour guides…” he trailed off. Kurt’s blue eyes on him gave him butterflies. He was a bit of a romantic but he hadn’t realized that anyone could still elicit that response from him, particularly when they had barely spoken.

Mercedes looked over at Kurt who gave a slight shrug. “That sounds great.”

* * *

**The Next Day**

"Good morning!" Blaine greeted Kurt and Mercedes at the breakfast table (all you can eat continental breakfast for just 1 euro!). "Are we still on for the prison visit?"

"Know any good coffee places?" Kurt yawned. "The coffee here is..." he took another sip from his mug and grimaced. "Terrible."

"All the places in Dublin and we're taking them to a super depressing _prison_?" Sam asked incredulously, grabbing a seat at the table.

"We're going to check out the art museum across the street too!" Blaine said, kicking Sam under the table. No way was he going to let Sam scare a hot guy like Kurt off.

"I wanted to tour St Patrick's Cathedral," Mercedes supplied helpfully. "Turns out they're closed today."

"I want to see the prison architecture," Kurt yawned.

"And a good coffee shop?" Blaine grinned.

"That's my first stop once you guys finish your food.” Kurt yawned again. “The time change is killing me."

"That's what you get for wanting to spend extra time on your hair this morning," Mercedes teased him.

Kurt elbowed her gently. "Watch it," he laughed. "I could still decide to just fly home and leave you here."

“Oh yeah? With what flight money?” she retorted, laughing.

Sam turned to Blaine, eyebrows raised. “Are we really going to the prison?”

Blaine wanted to kick him again. How could he not see the benefits of this situation. A guy and a girl? Right around their age? The guy was gay? And _hot_. 

“You know it was on my list,” Blaine lied, raising a pointed eyebrow at Sam.

“It wasn-” Sam stopped, finally catching Blaine’s pointed look. “I guess I forgot,” he tried to shrug nonchalantly. Blaine rolled his eyes.

Kurt and Mercedes continued their conversation as though they weren’t paying the least bit attention to their new travel friends. Blaine couldn’t help but be relieved.

* * *

As predicted, the prison was depressing. Historical? Yes. Interesting? Yes. Upbeat? _No_.

“So, what’d you guys think?” Blaine asked the group as they walked out.

“Depressing as shit.” Sam said at the same time that Mercedes said “I wish St Patrick’s Cathedral had been open.”

Blaine glanced at Kurt out of the corner of his eye. “Probably not the best choice for Day 1 of our Dublin adventure,” Kurt admitted, meeting his glance with a self deprecating laugh. “But the architecture was certainly interesting for a prison.

“Let’s go somewhere a bit cheerier then. Are you all still interested in the museum?” Blaine asked as peppily as he could muster. The prison really had been 'depressing as shit' as Sam had so eloquently put it.

* * *

They wandered through the art, looking at photos, paintings, and sculptures, chatting about it as they went. Blaine managed to learn that Kurt was currently living in NYC, that he and Mercedes had met back in high school glee club, and that while Kurt had gone to NYADA for performing, he was currently pursuing his other dream of fashion.

Two hours into it they lost Sam to the museum cafe.

“I need food!!” Sam had declared before speeding off to what looked like an unpleasantly long line of 12 year olds.

“Let’s meet back up in the gardens!” Blaine called after Sam. He turned back to Kurt and Mercedes. “Any interest in wandering the gardens?”

Mercedes glanced at Kurt. “Well, I want to go watch the film on Enya’s work...” Kurt bit his lip. “I can go by myself if you guys want to spend some time in the gardens.”

Blaine nodded as Kurt spoke. “Sounds good.”

Blaine could barely contain his smile. An adventure through the beautiful garden, just the two of them? He couldn’t have orchestrated a better outcome himself.

“Everyone lied when they said it always rains in Dublin,” Kurt said, as they settled down on a bench overlooking the hedges a little while later. “I think I might be getting a sunburn,” he added, scrunching up his nose.

Blaine laughed, tilting his head back to look up at the sky. “It has been pretty rainy and overcast here the past few days. We should have taken advantage and gone to the Cliffs of Moher today.”

“Ooo, yes, those are on our list too! This is nice though,” Kurt added with a shrug. “These gardens would be far less lovely in the rain. Plus - I’m a little scared to drive here,” Kurt confessed.

Blaine frowned. “Yeah, Sam and I were trying to figure out how to get out there during the quietest driving time. The whole ‘driving on the other side of the road’ thing in a city is a bit frightening.”

“I don’t like speaking ill of royalty, but continuing to drive on the left side of the road is one of the worst decisions the British monarchy makes every day.”

Blaine laughed, glancing over at Kurt who had a small smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. “A true atrocity.”

“So,” Kurt said, pulling his legs up on the bench and turning to face Blaine. “What brings you out here, Devon?" Blaine jolted a bit at the name. He'd been having so much fun just being a normal guy trying to flirt with a cute guy he liked that he'd almost forgotten that he was supposed to be _Devon._ "I feel like all I know about you is that you were born in Ohio, you have a friend named Sam, - oh, and you're on the last stop of your European Tour."

Blaine let out a laugh, privately smiling at how else the phrase “European Tour” could be applied. He ducked his head down shyly for a minute. What could he tell Kurt that wasn't a lie but also wouldn't give him away?

"Like you and Mercedes, I was in a glee club in high school. My family moved us to LA halfway through my freshman year for a job opportunity" - Blaine's record deal - "and then I finished high school remotely because my mom and I travelled around a lot" - touring. 

"We'll get back to all of that travel in a minute, but what about between then and now? There's no way you're 18."

"Uhh, I-" Blaine stuttered, wracking his brain. He knew he should share the poli-sci major lie that Sam had come up with, but for some reason he didn't want to lie to Kurt about that. But he also couldn’t mess up the story they’d rehearsed.

Luckily, before he could land on a lie, Sam appeared in front of them. "I can't believe I found you guys! These gardens are _huge_."

“Sam!” Blaine jumped up, eager for the distraction. “How was lunch?”

* * *

“So, what do you want to do tomorrow?” Blaine asked later that night, the four of them settled on the couches in the hostel basement.

“St Patrick’s Cathedral,” Mercedes replied with certainty.

“After that,” Blaine amended. “I thought we’d go there first thing in the morning and then do something else after.”

Kurt looked up from his phone, “We were talking about the Cliffs of Moher earlier - It looks like the weather will be nice again tomorrow.”

“Aren’t those like 3 hours away though?” Blaine asked. “Might be best for a day when we can get up early and go.”

“I was actually doing some searching and had a thought… What if we visit the Howth Cliffs instead?”

“Where are those? Blaine asked.

“About 30 minutes northeast,” Kurt replied, holding his phone out to the group. “There’s a 2 hour trail around them and a cute little town we can get lunch in. According to the reviews they’re not quite as nice as Moher, but they’re also _way_ closer.”

Blaine pulled up his car rental app, already starting to book a car.

Mercedes peered at a few pictures before nodding. “Works for me.”

Sam nodded his approval as well. “Can we get doughnuts from the place down the street before we go?”

“Sure,” Blaine agreed. He tapped “accept” on his own phone. “I’ve just rented us a car! We can pick it up as early as 10am.”

“How much?” Mercedes asked. “We can all split the cost.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Blaine waved her off. “Sam and I were planning to get a rental one of these days anyways.”

* * *

**St Patrick’s Cathedral**

“Do we really have to go to the Cathedral?” Sam hissed, pulling Blaine aside while Kurt and Mercedes got breakfast.

“Yes,” Blaine answered, trying to sound resolute as his eyes trailed after Kurt, who was beelining for the coffee, no matter how bad it was.

“Why?” Sam whined. “Wait- this is about Kurt isn’t it?”

Blaine blushed, but nodded. “He’s hot and funny and it’s fun to have a crush on someone without wondering about their motives,” he admitted.

“Aww, my little Bl- Devon is smitten.”

“Shut up,” Blaine grumbled. “I know we only have a few days left, but can we spend them with Kurt and Mercedes?”

“As long as we can still go on the Jameson tour.” Sam countered resolutely.

“Not a problem,” Blaine agreed, relieved that Sam was going along with this. “I was thinking we could get tickets for a tour tomorrow.”

He turned to get in line for food again, but Sam stopped him. “Just - be careful, ok?” Blaine nodded, touched that Sam was so concerned. Blaine didn’t really expect anything to happen between him and Kurt - how could it, with Kurt having no idea who he really was? - but it was sweet that Sam was looking out for him. “Try not to serenade him or-”

“We do not talk about the Gap Incident!” Blaine interrupted Sam loudly.

“‘The Gap Incident’?” Kurt asked, coming up next to Blaine.

Blaine whipped his head around to face Kurt. “How long were you standing there?”

Kurt gave him a funny look. “Just long enough to hear about ‘The Gap Incident’.”

“I wish I had video of it, but-”

“Sam!” Blaine tried to cut Sam off by clapping a hand over his mouth. He could feel his own cheeks burning. “I’m sorry, he’s delirious from hunger. I’m going to go get some breakfast in him!”

Five minutes later Sam and Blaine approached the table where Kurt and Mercedes were sitting. Blaine sat down nervously, hoping that Kurt had moved on to a new topic.

“So,” Kurt said, raising an eyebrow across the table at Blaine.

“Yes?” Blaine asked, terrible as always at thinking on his feet when a cute guy was in the room.

“You were going to tell me about ‘The Gap Incident’?”

“Please let me tell them!” Sam interrupted, begging.

Blaine rolled his eyes, shaking his head but quirking a small smile at Kurt. “Fine, you can tell them Sam.”

“Excellent!” Sam rubbed his hands together excitedly. “Back in high school, Devon was part of a Glee club. Somehow, between school and rehearsals he met a guy who worked at The Gap-”

“Like the clothing store?” Kurt asked.

“Exactly.”

“I was a bit less fashionable back then,” Blaine interjected as Kurt gave him a look that said ‘you shopped at _The Gap?_. “Besides, I was on a budget.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Sam waved him off. “This guy was 19 and totally in the closet-”

“I thought he was out!”

“You were _fifteen!_ " Sam countered before returning his attention to Kurt and Mercedes. "So Devon somehow convinced his Glee club to go _to The Gap_ and serenade him. With _When I Get You Alone_. He was-”

Blaine buried his face in his hands. “The guy was fired, he told me he wasn’t interested, and I was banned from The Gap.”

Blaine peaked through his fingers to see Mercedes was almost falling off her chair laughing. Kurt was covering his mouth, but Blaine could see a smile peaking through. Even when laughing at Blaine he was cute.

“The Gap clearly has poor taste if they kicked you out,” Kurt teased.

Removing his hands from his face and straightening up in his seat Blaine tried to give a dignified nod. “Thank you Kurt.”

“That song choice though,” Kurt snorted. “That is your own fault.”

* * *

St. Patrick’s Cathedral was more interesting than Blaine had anticipated as a non-religious person. After briefly wandering the building he found himself glued to the recordings of performances that had happened at the Cathedral over the years. Maybe his next album should have a choir backing some of the songs? Or a capella? Maybe he could invite the Warblers to help with a track...

* * *

“Who’s driving?” Mercedes asked as they stood by their newly rented Elantra.

“I guess I am,” Blaine answered, looking down at the keys in his hand. “The car’s in my name and all that.”

“Shotgun!” Sam yelled, opening the right hand door and jumping in.

“Sam!” Blaine called out, moving around the car to the seat Sam was in.

Before Blaine reached the door, Sam had opened it again. “This is the drivers side,” he admitted sheepishly.

“I need a good navigator upfront anyways so I don’t start driving on the wrong side of the road - Kurt, you’re good with a map, right?” Blaine asked, looking over his shoulder to where Kurt was standing next to Mercedes.

“Oh- uh,” Kurt stuttered as Mercedes nudged him forward. “Yes! Plus I have Google Maps on my phone and unlimited data.”

“Perfect,” Blaine grinned, unable to help the little thrill that went through him at the sight of Kurt’s returning grin. “You get shotgun then. Sam, Mercedes, are you both ok in the back? I know it’s not the biggest car-”

“Not a problem dude,” Sam said. “Always happy to be free from responsibilities.” He glanced over at Kurt and then gave Blaine a wink.

* * *

“Left side of the road! Left side!” Kurt shouted, Blaine veering them back onto the proper side of the road for the third time in 10 minutes.

“Sorry,” he cringed. He really should have put Sam’s name down for the car. Blaine wasn’t exactly the best driver under normal circumstances - let alone these ones - because he rarely drove himself anywhere. His plan of showing off by taking care of everything was failing.

“It’s ok,” Kurt said, hands still curled tightly in his lap. “We’re on the highway now. Everything’s one way so we should be fine for a ways.”

“I don’t know why I thought I could drive us,” Blaine said apologetically.

“Dude, you really suck at this.”

“Thank you Sam,” Blaine said through clenched teeth.

There was a moment of silence as they all tried to breath out the tension that the last 10 minutes of attempting to get on the highway had brought.

“Can we get lunch before the hike?” Sam asked.

“Kurt and I found a cute little place in town that we thought would be good,” Blaine said.

“When did you have time to do that?”

“While we were waiting for you guys to finish looking around the Cathedral we did some googling.”

“Does the place have burgers? I want a burger.” 

* * *

**Second to last day: Jameson Tour**

“Are we really going to drink whiskey at 2pm?” Kurt asked as they exited the hostel.

“Yes! It’s the _Jameson Whiskey Makers Tour._ We’re on vacation. Time is meaningless on vacation.” Sam enthused. “Tell him Mercedes.”

Blaine suppressed a smile as Mercedes rolled her eyes at Sam, smiling fondly. “I think Sam might volunteer to help you drink the whiskey if you want boo.”

Kurt looked downright offended at the suggestion. Blaine couldn’t help the laugh that escaped his lips. “He will do no such thing!”

* * *

"I feel like I should know this by now, but what're you up to after your trip ends?" Kurt asked Blaine as they sat at the bar sipping some small batch run of Jameson Select Whiskey - Blaine couldn't bring himself to remember the details - at the end of the tour.

"Oh, uh-" Blaine stumbled. "I got an offer at the place I, uh, interned at last year. So I'll be working there when I get home." He could feel his armpits start to sweat, but tried to maintain his calm expression.

"That's awesome! What will you do there? Where is it?"

"It's based in LA but I travel a lot and they give me some flexibility to work, uh, remotely." Blaine desperately wanted to stick as close to the truth as possible, he felt weird lying to Kurt. Several days of travelling together and they were definitely friends. Maybe the kind of friend you make while travelling and then never see again, but still, a friend. It had been a while since Blaine had made a friend outside of work. "I'll be doing a variety of things because my team is pretty hands on with everything.”

“What kinds of things?” Kurt asked before taking another sip of his drink.

“Oh, umm, strategy, marketing, that sort of thing.” He paused, uncomfortable with the attention on his “real” life, and thoughts filling his mind about how he’d be returning to paparazzi and an inability to go to a coffee shop without being asked for a picture. “How about yourself?”

“I also got hired full time after my internship,” Kurt looked very proud as he said it, puffing his chest out a little.

“That’s amazing Kurt!” Blaine said, reaching out a hand to squeeze Kurt’s. Kurt blushed at the touch. “Where at?”

“Um,” Kurt looked down at his drink shyly, before making eye contact once more. “Vogue?”

“What!?” Blaine almost jumped out of his seat. “That’s amazing. I could never even dream of working there. What do you do? Tell me everything,” Blaine said eagerly, hand finding Kurt’s once more to give it an excited squeeze.

* * *

**Final Night**

Mercedes yawned. “I think I need to go to bed.”

Sam, who had been drifting off in his chair, hummed in agreement.

The four of them were sitting in the lounge of the hostel. They had been playing cards, joined off and on by some of the others staying at the hostel, but it had finally petered out to just the four of them. 

“Come on!” Blaine whined. “It’s the last night of our trip. We should celebrate with a drink! The rain finally stopped.”

“I’m sorry man. You know me, once I start falling asleep I’m done.”

“It’s only 10pm,” Blaine pouted.

“I’d be up for a drink,” Kurt piped up from the seat next to Blaine.

Blaine could feel his face light up as he turned to Kurt, “Really?”

“Of course. It is your last night after all,” Kurt smiled at him and Blaine felt a little thrill go through him.

Sam clapped Blaine on the shoulder as he and Mercedes got up. “Don’t stay out too late. We need to be at the airport by 7,” Sam reminded him. It was an odd role reversal, but then again, they weren’t in high school anymore. Blaine nodded.

Blaine stood up as Sam and Mercedes footsteps retreated up the stairs. He looked over at Kurt. “Where to?” Blaine asked.

“How about Frank Ryan’s?” Kurt suggested, standing up straight now. “I remember them having live music, inexpensive food, and good beer. The true Dublin tourist experience”

Blaine nodded, “Lead the way.” He gestured up the stairs. He felt a small thrill go through him as he watched Kurt take the first few steps up. Some alone time, just himself and Kurt, was exactly what he had been hoping for.

* * *

“You’re going to London next, right?” Blaine asked as they settled down at the bar, noticing that the live musicians were taking a break from playing.

“Yup,” Kurt replied, eyes roaming across the beers on tap and the cocktail specials. “London for four days, followed by Paris for four days, and then it’s back home to the real world.”

“Aww, don’t say that like it’s a bad thing.” Blaine patted his shoulder. “Just because you won’t be travelling the world, doesn’t mean that home and the real world are bad.”

Kurt eyed him. “Do you really believe that or are you just saying that because you’re dreading going home tomorrow and trying to make yourself feel better about it?”

Blaine laughed. Kurt wasn’t entirely off base with his question. Had he been that obvious about his reluctance to return back to normal life? 

“I’m not… dreading it, per se.” Blaine said carefully. “I’m just...” How could he explain his dread of returning to his life of having cameras constantly shoved in his face without actually saying that? “I loved my internship, and I think I’m going to love this full time job, and I can’t wait to go back to it but I hate some of the things that come with it, you know?”

Kurt hummed his agreement. Anything he was going to say, lost as the bartender appeared in front of him. “What’re you boys drinking?”

* * *

Blaine was _drunk_. One beer had instead turned into three cocktails and two shots.

“We should sing!!” Kurt shouted, words slurring together slightly.

“Yes!!” Blaine agreed excitedly, leaning hard against Kurt. “Do you think the- the-” He furrowed his brow trying to remember the word. “The people will let us?”

“I don’t know,” Kurt frowned. “I didn’t think of that.”

“Let’s ask,” Blaine suggested confidently, standing up and swaying slightly before grabbing Kurt’s hand and tugging him along.

As is only polite, Blaine waited until the end of the song before approaching the band's singer/ guitarist. "If I buy you a round of beer, will you let us sing one song?"

The man eyed him. "I can’t do that man, but there’s a karaoke bar next door."

Blaine felt a tug on his arm and turned to see Kurt pulling at him. "Let's go!!"

Blaine nodded, waved to the band, and then grabbed Kurt's hand.

Ten minutes later their tab was closed, and they had made it next door, where there was indeed a karaoke bar. 

"What song do you want to sing?" Blaine asked, idly flipping through the book, unable to get his eyes to fully comprehend who many of the artists were.

"Something musical theater!"

"Hmm," Blaine smacked his lips together a few times while he thought. Suddenly, he grinned, scribbling an artist and song down on the piece of paper he needed to submit. "Got it!" He handed the paper to the DJ who glanced at it, raised an eyebrow, and then told them they would be on in two songs.

"What did you pick?" Kurt asked, grabbing Blaine's hand.

"It's a surprise."

"What if I don't know it?" Kurt pouted.

Blaine grinned at him. "You are a human being on this earth. There's no way you don't know it."

After a very off-key rendition of Taylor Swift’s _You Belong with Me_ followed by a group of college kids singing _What Makes You Beautiful_ by One Direction, it was their turn.

They headed up to the stage, Blaine practically bouncing with excitement. It had been years since he had performed in front of a crowd that didn't already know him. When they stood in front of the mics, the music started up.

Kurt shot him a surprised look, taking a step closer to Blaine. “Devon- is this _A Whole New World_ from _Aladdin_?” 

Blaine nodded his head excitedly. “I told you you’d know it!”

They sang, voices blending better than Blaine could have ever imagined, and Blaine found himself unable to stop himself from singing _to_ Kurt. In his buzzed state, every lyric seemed to perfectly line up with how he felt about Kurt. This trip, the past few days with Kurt, Blaine felt as though he was living in a whole new life. It introduced him to a world where he could be carefree and light, with no concern that the guy he was crushing on was treating him the way they were because to them he was _The Blaine Anderson._

As the song ended, Blaine couldn’t help but lean forward and kiss Kurt. To his delight, Kurt kissed him back immediately, one hand shifting to hold Blaine close. Just like that, Blaine's whole world became Kurt's lips, his hands, hi-

"Hey! Get a room!" Blaine started at the DJ's yell, separating from Kurt.

Kurt, face flushed, pulled a stunned Blaine off the stage. 

"That was-" Blaine started to say, once they were well away from the stage.

"Do you want to get out of here?" Kurt asked, voice a little breathless. Blaine, noticing that Kurt was holding his hand, intertwined their fingers. 

Blaine nodded enthusiastically. "Where to?"

"Back to the hostel?" Kurt asked, hand squeezing Blaine's. "Where can we have some privacy?"

Blaine rolled onto his tip toes, nose brushing Kurt's ear. "Privacy sounds great," he said, delighting in the way Kurt shivered at the closeness.

Exiting the building, a cool breeze hit Blaine, clearing his head a little. He paused. "The hostel won't work."

"What? Why?"

Blaine moved so he could hold both of Kurt's hands. Then he kissed Kurt, long and slow, just because he could. "I want to do things with you that I absolutely can't do with our friends in the room. Or in a public lounge."

Kurt's cheeks, already flushed from the alcohol turned pinker. "I like the sound of that. Where can we go?"

Blaine kissed Kurt soundly before stepping away. "I saw a hotel a couple doors down that might have some vacancies."

"What are we waiting for?" Kurt asked, starting to walk down the street, holding tight to Blaine’s hand. "Let's go."

Blaine laughed, tugging Kurt back. "I appreciate the enthusiasm but the hotel is actually the other way."

* * *

"Devon!" Kurt exclaimed as they entered the room. "How much did this room cost?" He let go of Blaine's hand to explore the one bedroom suite.

Blaine chuckled. "It was the only one they had, but they gave me a nice discount on it so it wouldn’t stay empty all night." Both untrue, but he couldn't tell Kurt that while Kurt had been distracted by the complimentary cookies, Blaine had asked for the best room in the place. He wanted to splurge a little, so sue him. This was special.

"There is a _jacuzzi_ in here!" Blaine heard Kurt exclaim from the bathroom.

Blaine laughed, pausing to fill two glasses with water before heading to the bathroom to find Kurt. Three steps towards the bathroom however, and Kurt had flown past him, diving through the mountain of decorative pillows on the king sized bed behind him.

"This bed is luxurious." He spread his limbs out like a starfish lying flat on his stomach.

Blaine set the glasses down on the nightstand. "I can think of a few ways we could really test out the bed…" Blaine flirted, winking at him as he straddled Kurt and started gently massaging his shoulders.

Kurt moaned loudly. "If it involves you massaging me, I am all in."

"I was thinking I would actually be the one who was all in _yo_ -" Blaine started to say in a low voice.

Kurt rolled over, laughing. "I was kind of hoping the happy ending of the massage would actually end with _my_ cock in _you_ but - Kurt glanced at the clock for show - “I think we have time for both."

Blaine couldn't help but grin as his cock perked up a bit at the news. "Who's going to ask the front desk for some lube?"

“Oh, definitely you.” Kurt grinned.

“Me?” Blaine asked, in mock innocence. He leaned over and kissed Kurt deeply, hand brushing over his cock before it landed on the many buttons of Kurt’s pants. “And what will you be doing?”

“I’ll be getting a head start on these buttons.” Kurt teased. “Someone has to do the hard work.”

Blaine laughed, kissing Kurt hard for a moment before pulling away and groaning. "Ok, ok, I’m calling them right now."

* * *

 _Beep beep beep_ , Blaine groaned as he opened his eyes. The sun wasn’t even up yet, he was definitely hungover, and a glance at the clock on his phone as he turned off his alarm suggested he had been asleep for less than an hour. 

“Make it stop,” a voice next to him mumbled, flinging out a hand that shoved against Blaine’s arm.

Oh. Yeah. Kurt. A smile spread across Blaine's face as he rolled over and lazily pressed a kiss to Kurt’s chest. "Good morning." How lucky was he to wake up next to this gorgeous man? Not to mention the freedom that came with knowing that there was no way he was going to find this encounter in a tabloid. He was going to miss this. Being Devon and not having to constantly worry about his _celebrity_. Freely venturing around a new city with fun people.

"It's 5am," Kurt retorted sleepily. "My dick needs more sleep before it can go again."

Blaine chuckled, his cock stirring slightly at the words. "I have to go meet up with Sam and catch my flight. Are you ok to get back to the hostel if I leave you here?"

Kurt rolled over, his face squished slightly by the pillow. "When’s check out?" 

"Noon," Blaine replied, before rolling out of bed with a groan. “I wish I could stay here with you until then.”

“Then stay,” Kurt mumbled in return.

“I have to go back to the real world.”

Blaine hopped in the shower to quickly rinse off before getting dressed, images of the night before flashing through his mind. He was toweling off, when a thought suddenly occurred to him. He wasn’t just going to miss being Devon and existing without the fame, he was going to miss being with _Kurt_. Not the sex. Well, yes, the sex, but more importantly, Kurt’s humor, his laugh, the endless things they seemed to have in common, and the way he helped Blaine feel… understood despite not knowing anything about Blaine’s life. 

He got dressed and pressed one last kiss to Kurt’s head. He was halfway out the bedroom door when he paused. Kurt had his International burner phone number, but no other number. Should he give Kurt his actual phone number?

Blaine’s phone buzzed, distracting him.

Sam: Dude, where are you?

No time to second guess himself, Blaine strode across the bedroom to the desk. He grabbed a pen and paper and scribbled down his real phone number. _Text me when you're state side?._

* * *

"So you closed the deal with Kurt then?!" Sam asked an hour later as they stood in line at TSA. 

Blaine winced at the volume of his voice, glancing around furtively to see if anyone had taken notice. "Shh, and don’t say it like _that_ ," he hissed. No one was giving them a look, but this hangover was bad news for their plane ride home. "But yes."

"Wow," Sam whistled. "Can't believe you finally did it. Slipped one bang in at the last second."

Blaine rolled his eyes. "Can you please not refer to it as 'slipping in one last bang'?" Kurt had been much more than a random bang to him. How could he not be after days spent traveling Dublin together? It wasn't as though he had just picked up some random dude at the bar. He knew Kurt was smart, funny, and compassionate. Of _course_ Blaine didn’t feel casually about him. 

"Dude," Sam looked at him suspiciously. "What did you do? Are you trying to tell me-" Blaine felt his cheeks darken as he avoided eye contact. "You developed actual feelings, didn't you?"

Well. Shit.

"It's not like that," Blaine said, trying his best to sound dismissive of the idea. No way was he going to tell Sam that he had given Kurt his number.

Sam groaned in exasperation. "I should have known this would happen. You are categorically incapable of casual."

"I'm a romantic," Blaine shrugged, owning it. "It's part of why I'm good at what I do."

"People?" Sam asked, brow furrowed.

"No," Blaine laughed. "Love songs."

Sam laughed in return, nodding his head. "I guess I can't say it hasn't gotten you anywhere then."


	2. The After

**Three Days Post-Dublin**

Blaine had been having trouble sleeping ever since he had returned from his trip. He had spent so much of his life jumping from timezone to timezone that he had honestly thought he was immune to it, but apparently not this time. His life was back to being loud and busy and not fully his own.

If Blaine was being honest with himself, it wasn’t the jetlag, he was still riding a weird high from his time with Kurt. They had only had a few days together, and most of that time was spent with their friends, nothing romantic happening at all, but then that last night… all of their little looks and touches had led to, well, an amazing night together, just the two of them.

He sat up, swinging his legs out of bed. Well, if he wasn’t going to fall asleep he might as well try to write the song that he felt trying to burst out of him.

* * *

**Two Months Post-Dublin**

Blaine sat in the back of the car on his way back from some movie premiere and sighed, looking down at his phone. At what point did he need to admit to himself that Kurt was never going to text him?

He could convince himself it was for the best - he had no idea how he planned to explain the giant lie he had told Kurt, and even less of an idea how Kurt might react - but really, he was disappointed. He was a romantic, damn it, and part of being a romantic was imagining approximately 20 thousand possible reunions between himself and Kurt while singing a love song about him. 

Life went on though, so Blaine opened his messaging app and clicked on Sam’s name.

Blaine: Hey man, want to get drinks tomorrow?

* * *

**Four Months Later**

“You’re on in five,” the PA said, knocking on his door. Blaine straightened his bowtie.

“We’ll be out in 2,” his manager, Wes, called back. He looked at Blaine. “You ready?”

Blaine nodded. “I’ve been on Fallon a few times now, I think I know the routine.” The blessing of talk shows and interviews was that Blaine rarely remembered what he said afterwards. Nothing to cringe about later if you only remembered it when someone made you watch a clip afterwards.

“Just checking!” he laughed. “This is your first late night show in a while. Go out there and kill it.”

Taking a breath, Blaine headed out the door and down the hall to the stage door, shaking off everything that wasn’t his show smile. Jimmy announced him and Blaine was moving.

“So Blaine, it’s been awhile! How have you been?”

They made some small talk before Jimmy shifted focus to his new single _. _

“The song you’re about to sing, uh-” Jimmy started.

“Dublin Sun,” Blaine supplied for him.

“Yes, Dublin Sun, what inspired you to write it?”

“Well,” Blaine started slowly, wanting to balance how much he shared. “I took some time off over the summer, travelled around Europe for a while.”

“Don’t you get to do that on tour?” Jimmy interjected.

Blaine laughed, settling more comfortably on the couch. “There’s never enough time. Usually I’m lucky if I get to do more than go to the venue and a hotel. When I do I usually stir up too much attention to really get to take it all in.” They’d discussed his adventures a bit in the pre-interview, but Blaine wasn’t about to dive into all that until Jimmy really asked. Blaine’s rule of interviews? Always let the host drive the conversation unless they’re struggling.

“So you got to actually travel around this summer? You didn’t just rent some beautiful beach house somewhere?” Jimmy asked. “I don’t remember hearing about any Blaine Anderson induced mobs in Europe this summer.”

“I was able to travel under the radar a bit. I changed up my look a little and stayed at hostels with a friend.”

“Oo, an undercover trip then! I won’t even ask how you pulled that off. So I take it a stop over in Dublin inspired the song?”

“Yeah," Blaine smile, an image of Kurt, laughing with him as they sang karaoke, followed by a haze of them kissing, getting a hotel room, and having sex, flashed through his mind. "When we were in Dublin we met some other Americans and spent a few days exploring the city with them.” He knew he was talking more than he should but he couldn’t help himself. He might never talk to Kurt again, but that didn’t mean that their time together hadn’t been special. “I got to hang out with this amazing guy I had met and not worry that anyone was there because I’m  _ Blaine Anderson. _ "

“Wow! That sounds amazing,” Jimmy chimed in as Blaine paused.

Blaine shrugged, a small smile still on his face. "A few nights after we came home, I couldn’t fall asleep. I sat down at the piano and  _ Dublin Sun _ just flowed out of me. It basically took me about 20 minutes to write.”

"That's quite the story."

"I barely believe it myself, Jimmy," Blaine laughed.

"Well we have to cut to commercial, but when we come back, Blaine Anderson performs the first single off his new album, Dublin Sun."

* * *

**The Next Morning**

Sam: Dude, are you trying to be found out?

Sam: How are we supposed to ever travel in secret again if you’re just telling everyone about our adventure on live TV?

Blaine: I’m sorry! It’s just such a good story

Sam: You’re sure you’re not trying to get Kurt to reach out? I’ve been a little worried about your lack of a love life…

Blaine: If Kurt finds out who I am and only reaches out to me because of that, then I’ll know it was all a fantasy. If he doesn’t reach out, well, I can keep dreaming

Blaine: And you know my love life always sucks because it’s hard to meet people in this industry or out of it and feel like they actually want me for me

Sam: Just be careful, ok? And don’t say anything else about our trip!! I want to do another trip like that with you.

* * *

**Two Weeks Later: Label Event**

Blaine took a breath, centering himself before putting a smile on his face and walking out onto the stage. He kind of hated these things. Performing? Great. Meeting new people? Totally fine. Performing for label exec's as a "showcase" and then having to schmooze with them? Hell no. But it was the job.

He sat down at the piano, running his fingers over the keys before looking out over the audience that was just a sea of people before him.

"Hi everyone, my name is Blaine Anderson.” Rule #1: Always introduce yourself, even if you can sell out the biggest stadiums. “Tonight I have two songs for you, the first is the first single off my new album. It’s both the easiest song I’ve written as well as one of my favorites. It just flowed out of me one night last summer and I knew it had to be on the album. It’s called ‘Dublin Sun’. Enjoy."

The song started slowly, Blaine plunking away on the piano before opening his mouth to sing. _ “Bright blue eyes, I was mesmerized, Singing in bars, Laughing in cars. One stolen night in Ireland, and all I want is to hold your hand. Your skin so pale, you somehow got burned by the Dublin sun. I went to the City of Love but met you in the Fair City in a grimy room. If I fell for you there, I guess I could fall for you anywhere."  _ Everytime he sang this song his mind flashed back to Kurt, longing to have him back. He knew it was silly. It had only been 4 days of his life and those days had been  _ months _ ago. Kurt had his number, he'd just never seen fit to use it. But he couldn't help it. Kurt was hard to forget.

* * *

Blaine finished his mini set and departed the stage, glad that he could return to being an audience member. He dodged around a few crew members as he navigated the back hallway to his dressing room. A quick touch up in the mirror and he could be back out there.

“A quick touch up in the mirror” turned into 15 minutes with Wes giving him a (mostly unnecessary) refresher of every important person at the event that he wanted Blaine to talk to. Finally, after 15 minutes, he left him alone to use the bathroom.

A few minutes later Blaine stuck his head out the door, checking to make sure the hall was relatively calm. Only seeing a few people, he walked out, heading towards the door that would send him back out into the sea of people.

He was about 20 feet away when the door opened and in walked a familiar looking black woman. He wracked his brain for a name. Who was she again?

"Hey Devon," she greeted him with a wave and knowing grin as she walked by.

“Hey,” He smiled automatically and waved back, still wracking his brain for her name when her words caught up to him. Devon? He whirled around in time to see a crew member usher her towards the stage. "Right this way Mercedes."

Blaine swore that in that moment his heart stopped beating.  _ Mercedes?  _ He was sure there was more than one Mercedes in the world but given that she called him Devon there was no way that this was some other Mercedes. He had somehow managed to run into Mercedes of  _ Kurt and Mercedes _ . And she knew exactly who he was.  _ Shit. _

He stood there, frozen. She wasn’t supposed to be here. He was supposed to be allowed to sing  _ Dublin Sun _ everywhere, hoping Kurt heard it and realized, but not actually have to face any of the consequences. But if she was here? He was screwed. Kurt totally had to know he was Blaine, not Devon. And if he didn’t know he would definitely know soon.

What was he supposed to do if Kurt called him after this? He would only be calling because he discovered ‘Devon’ was actually famous...

He pulled out his phone. Sam could help him. He would know what to do. Or, well, he would be someone to talk to at the very least.

The door Mercedes had entered through opened again. "Oh! There you are Blaine!" Wes exclaimed. "What’s the hold up? There are some people I want you to meet."

Well. Shit. Blaine tucked his phone away. A crisis for later then.

Wes led him back into the crowd while Blaine put his performance face back on. He could focus on schmoozing and think about Kurt later. He put himself on Schmooze Autopilot, one eye keeping a look out for Mercedes the moment her (stunning) performance was over. He needed to talk to her. Figure out how screwed he was.

Finally, he spotted her two tables over talking to a few people. Gathering his resolve he tuned back into his own conversation. "I am so sorry but I just spotted Mercedes Jones over there. I was hoping to congratulate her on her amazing performance. If you'll excuse me…" he slipped away, making a beeline for her, consequences be damned.

To his utter confusion, she made eye contact with him, smiled, said something to the man she had been talking to, and then promptly left the table, walking away from Blaine.

To his horror (delight?) understanding washed over him as the man she had been talking to turned around. It was  _ Kurt _ , looking more handsome than ever in his fitted suit, and deliberately styled hair.

Blaine prided himself for only freezing for a moment, before reaching his hand out to Kurt.

"Hi, I'm Blaine." Really? You spend a week accidentally falling in love with him in Dublin while lying about your name and identity, then you write a chart topping love song for him and 'Hi, I'm Blaine' is all you've got? No wonder he didn’t have a boyfriend.

“I thought it was Devon,” Kurt replied, raising a perfect eyebrow. 

Blaine laughed, embarrassed, caught, and a little concerned that maybe he had figured it out before tonight. Like, way before tonight. “So you knew?”

"I heard your song once and wondered if you knew someone who knew someone, but I didn't realize until tonight," Kurt shrugged, and Blaine felt a wave of relief wash over him. “Not until you sang that song and I saw your face up on that stage."

Blaine bit his lip. He wanted to ask Kurt why he had never called, but he also-

“I’m sorry I never called,” Kurt blurted out. “It started raining on my way back to the hostel that morning. The paper was in tatters by the time I got back. I tried your international number, but I assume you never got those once you landed back in the US.”

“Yeah, that phone doesn’t get reception here. Wait- You lost my number?” Blaine asked, startled by the knowledge. “That’s why you never texted?”

“Yeah,” Kurt laughed. “Mercedes could tell you how upset I was about it. I wanted to go find you at the airport before I realized your flight had left an hour beforehand. It was so silly since we had only known each other for a few days before going our separate ways, but-”

“It’s not silly,” Blaine interrupted him. “I wrote a  _ song _ for you. Even after I assumed I’d lost any chance I had with you because you never reached out.”

“You wrote a song about me,” Kurt smiled that smile Blaine loved most where his teeth peeked through.

" _ For you _ . I wrote a song _ for you _ ," Blaine corrected, unable to help himself. 

Kurts smile grew. “You wrote a song for me.”

Blaine looked down at the floor, his smile slipping off his face a little before he took a deep breath and looked back up at Kurt again. “I’m sorry I lied to you about who I was.”

Kurt shook his head. “I get it. You couldn’t exactly have stayed at a hostel and told everyone who you were.”

Blaine nodded, relieved that Kurt seemed to understand. “Can I-”

“Blaine!” a hand clapped down on his shoulder causing Blaine to jump. “There you are!” Wes. Of course. “There are a few more people I want you to meet before they go.”

Blaine grimaced. The absolute last thing he wanted to do right now was go schmooze. Fate had brought him and Kurt back together. He couldn’t blow this chance.

“Can you give me a minute here Wes?” Blaine asked, glancing at Kurt and imploring him to stay put when he saw that Kurt looked like he was wondering if he should leave. “I, uh, this is Kurt.”

‘This is-” Wes looked between him and Kurt. “Oh- oh! This is  _ Kurt _ ?” Wes looked more closely at Kurt. “Wow.”

Blaine nodded, trying to smile politely at Wes. “Yeah, so if you could give us like two more minutes to catch up, that would be great.”

“Yeah- yeah, sure, of course. I’ll be over there when you’re done.” Wes gestured over to his right, but Blaine honestly couldn’t bring himself to take notice. He had more important things to focus on.

“Your manager knows about me?” Kurt asked, looking simultaneously surprised and flattered.

“Uh,” Blaine blushed. “Yeah. I may have talked to him about my, uh, trip and you came up of course, and-” Blaine stumbled. Should he be playing it cool? Should he be trying to whisk Kurt away? Was Kurt even interested in him still? What if he had a boyfriend?

Kurt bit his lip, face a bit flushed. “Can I get your number again? I promise I won’t lose it this time.”

“Yes - yes,” Blaine could not believe his luck. This meant Kurt wasn’t seeing anyone, right? It had to. 

Kurt pulled out his phone, unlocking it and tapping it a few times before handing it over to Blaine.

Their fingers brushed together as Kurt handed off the phone, causing butterflies to shoot through Blaine’s stomach. He looked down at the phone, seeing the contact name ‘Devon’ already in the phone. He laughed, typing in his number and immediately shooting himself a text.

He closed the app, about to hand the phone back to Kurt when he saw a familiar building on Kurt’s phone background.

“Is that-?” He moved the phone closer to his face, eyes catching on stone statues and a branchless tree with paper leaves that looked vaguely familiar, completely missing Kurt’s eyes going wide as he reached out to snatch his phone back. Blaine furrowed his brow, a little confused as to why the background was so familiar. “Oh-” he puffed out as he spotted himself, standing in the background, hands clasped in front of him as he read a sign. Kurt really hadn’t forgotten about him.

Kurt grabbed the phone, face fire engine red. “That’s, uh, I forgot that was my background.”

Blaine grinned, squeezing his hand. “Call me later?”

“S-sure,” Kurt nodded.

Blaine gave him one final smile before turning to find Wes. This evening had been nothing like he expected.

* * *

**The Next Morning**

Blaine: You didn’t lose my number again, did you?

Kurt <3: Ha ha

Kurt <3: Just busy trying to figure out if last night was a fever dream or something

Blaine: How about we go grab lunch somewhere. We can convince each other that this is all real

Kurt <3: I know just the place. There’s a little Irish Pub in Tribeca that has the best chicken pot pie.

Blaine: Send me the address! How does 1pm sound?

Blaine’s phone buzzed again and he grinned, somehow this was actually happening. After a moment of staring down at the text he shot up. He was meeting Kurt in 2 hours. He needed an outfit. 

* * *

**Epilogue**

“Yesterday we learned that you have a boyfriend- up and coming fashion designed Kurt Hummel,” James Corden said as a picture of Blaine and Kurt at a runway show appeared on the screen behind them.

“Yes,” Blaine couldn’t help the smile that lit up his face. Normally he kept his private life private - heck, he and Kurt had been under the radar for 2 years now - but with Kurt’s career taking off just under a year ago they had finally decided to make their relationship a little more public. Plus, his upcoming album was mostly about Kurt so people were going to start asking.

“How long has this been going on? The two of you looked quite cozy.”

Blaine laughed. “Let’s just say I knew him before he was known.”

“I’m going to need you to explain that for the folks at home. I’m sure they would love to know how they too can meet and date a pop star.”

Blaine smiled sheepishly. "First you have to have a best friend and some spare cash. Then you have to go on a grand adventure abroad. Then, you just have to randomly bump into an undercover celebrity."

"That's all it takes?" James laughed.

"That's all it takes," Blaine replied. "Of course, then you have to make sure you can actually get back in touch when you return home, otherwise you might never find out that the guy you hung out with is actually famous…”

* * *

Picture: Blaine and Kurt kissing in the garden at the Irish Museum of Modern Art

Caption: “Brought it back to where it all started… he said yes!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how Kurt finds out about Blaine, so if anyone is interested in some of the alternate takes that I had, let me know and I can share!


End file.
